Atom RSS

Are the radar guns used for the Division Series and League Champinship Series "Juiced"? Some scouts, and at least one high profile former manager thinks so.

New York Mets scout Bob Johnson, who was at Game 1 of the ALCS in Oakland laughed out loud when looking at the reading from the gun displayed on the scoreboard while A's reliever Joe Kennedy was in the game.

"That gun had to be soaked in greenies," Johnson says. "There was not a chance he was throwing 97. He tops out at 93 mph. He's never thrown that hard in his life.

"Fans love velocity, but when you see some of these numbers, especially the screwy ones late in the game, all you can do is laugh."

Lou Piniella, who is working for Fox as an analyst in the postseason, questioned the readings during the Game 1 broadcast and continued to mock it the next day.

"I haven't been in the dugout for a while," Piniella says, "but I don't remember all these guys throwing in the high 90s. I mean, it's good to see these guys throwing 100, but are they really throwing 100?"

As reported:

Scouts are convinced relievers Zumaya and Wagner legitimately hit 100 mph on the radar gun, but perhaps no one else. Zumaya was clocked at 103 mph on the Fox gun Tuesday night, but Johnson's radar gun had him at 101.

"It's getting ridiculous what they're coming up with now," says Randy Johnson, special assistant to A's general manager Billy Beane. "It's like when the (scoreboard) gun readings had Kenny Rogers at 94. Come on, that can't be right.

"He's maybe touched 90 a handful of times the last five years, so there's no way he's throwing that hard at the age of 41. It's not just him, but everyone. ... Maybe these radar guns are on steroids."